Top 32 Lancelot Deck List and Matchup Guide

Last weekend I got to play in the Union Arena Regional event held in Los Angeles, and I was super excited!  Not only was this my first big event for UNION ARENA, but I had never actually played at a regional size event in any card game before. In the weeks leading up to the event, I was unsure what deck I wanted to bring, especially with the brand new Kenshin set itching to prove itself in its first major event post-release. 

After testing extensively, I ended up falling back on one of my most reliable decks from my favorite series in UNION ARENA; Green Code Geass Lancelot Air Cavalry.  Despite the disadvantage my deck had against the favored deck for the event, Red Kenshin, my hard work and loyalty to the deck was rewarded with a 6-2 finish in the event.  After tie breakers, I finished 22nd out of 251 players, which is a performance I am quite proud of.  Below, I have broken down some of the details that made my deck stand out at the most recent regional, as well as my take-aways from the specific match-ups I had to play.

Top 32 Lancelot Deck List

Lancelot Key Cards

Euphemia Li Britania (1-046) - 

This was a card I originally cut when Code Geass Vol. 2 came out, but I found it helps out in several small, but significant ways that end up adding a lot of value to the deck.

1. First, it is a one-energy card with a Draw trigger, giving you more consistency in your energy curve as well as in your life triggers. However, Euphy’s main effect is preventing the opponent from choosing anyone except her when they use events from their hand.

2. In the current meta, this gains a lot of value, particularly against two key decks. Roy Mustang, which would much rather use a Special to get rid of Air Cavalry instead of discarding up to 4 cards from hand. Second is Red Kenshin, who looks to Special your 5000BP blockers to the bottom of your deck.

When played properly, this Euphemia often keeps your opponents from sidelining your Raid cards for at least one more turn, allowing you to get a much better trade on cards thanks to all of the “Damage 2” abilities in this deck.

Euphemia Li Britania (1-047) -

Again, I originally thought Volume 2 would push this card out of the list. In addition, I am normally against running single copies of cards in Union Arena, since we lack “tutor” effects that other games have that would guarantee finding that single copy in deck.

However, I figured this card would give you some extra resilience against Red Kenshin. Between the Step ability and the natural three-energy generation, this Euphemia would allow you to deal with Kenshin’s push effects much easier.

This is, unfortunately, in theory for me still. Since it is a single copy, I never actually got it in hand in any of my tests or real matches against the Red Kenshin decks. She only ever appeared as a draw trigger. I still felt comfortable enough with my history playing it in Volume 1’s meta that I committed to it on my list for the regional without the solid data to back up my theory. It never ended up hurting me in a match, but I want to test more to see if it would be worth playing two or more.

V.A.R.I.S. is the first card you discard

The Special in this deck is very standard, so the card itself is not why I am adding it to this highlights section. Rather, it is here because testing for the regional event showed me an interesting use case for this card; Throw it away. In the early turns, if this card is in your hand, it should be the first thing discarded on your “Draw 1, sideline 1” effects.

Not only are your other cards all much more valuable for building your board or pressuring your opponent, but this deck rarely gets the same value out of using a Special from hand that other decks do. Not only does Air Cavalry have the same effect built in as a “When Played”, but with eight different “Damage 2” attackers in the deck, you will sideline your opponent’s characters through combat much more often than other decks. V.A.R.I.S. should mostly be used from your hand in order to close out the game by reducing their blockers, or to remove key Raid targets if a Raid trigger would severely mess up your plans.

I have even debated cutting this card down to three copies, but the Special trigger from life is too powerful to give up. Seriously, playing characters to the field, especially if it lets pass the turn with eight energy on your line, is almost always a better value in this deck than just removing a card from the board.

The match ups

Round 1 (Lost) : Purple Kenshin, Saito

This deck was an exciting matchup for Lancelot. While Saito decks can build their board quickly by using their numerous draw and search effects, you have just as many effects in your deck to keep pace with it. The biggest issue I had in this match was that I, astoundingly, did not see a single Suzaku card until the game was over.

While not seeing the key Raid target would be a death sentence for many decks, Lancelot and Air Cavalry keep their “Damage 2” ability even when they are played un-Raided. Playing my Raid cards this way caused my opponent to hesitate to use the powerful six-energy Saito Raid, as he wanted to use his limited “Snipe” ability to get the most value possible. However, a 5000BP “Damage 2” attacker is still just good value on the board.

I managed to make the game extremely close, where if I had been lucky enough to get a single Final or Active trigger, I would have finally got a Suzaku to Raid with and swing for the game. If a match result can be that close while you miss a critical card in your deck, it is reasonable to assume the matchup is at least even. As long as you don’t play too aggressively, you should be able to keep threatening Saito’s board with heavy attackers to close the game.

Round 2,3 (Win, Win) : Lancelot Mirror Match

There isn’t too much you can say about this match up. A lot of it will come down to better sequencing and card draw. One card that did give me quite the edge in this matchup was the one-energy Euphemia. Since both players want to be careful about how fast and often you play out your Air Cavalry, it can be better to use your special in this matchup to slow down your opponent.

Both of my opponents hesitated to use their V.A.R.I.S. to get rid of the Euphemia even though it was likely the better play, as all of my Lancelot Raids got to stay for extra turns of pressure. One of the matches I even played Euphy directly up front to stop a Special, blocked with her to stop a “Damage 2” attack, and then next turn played my second Euphy to stop the Special again. Plays like this will really help to make sure you get more value when you have to start trading cards in the mirror match.

Round 4 (Win) : Red Asta

This match was fairly straightforward. Asta can struggle against 5000 BP characters, and the Raid cannot sideline Air Cavalry at all, or the normal Lancelot on the first turn it is Raided. As if these weren’t enough of an advantage, for this event the host ruled that the new Asta promo card would not be allowed. While it was an understandable decision given the promo officially released only three days before the event, I got the feeling my opponent had tested for the event with that card in mind and had to adjust his list at the last minute. He was a good player, but without the flexibility of the new Asta card, Lancelot is a particularly bad matchup for his deck.

Round 5,6,8 (Lost, Win, Win) : Red Kenshin

This deck is, no contest, the worst matchup that Lancelot has in the current meta. It is far from an unwinnable match, but it does require you to play entirely on their terms instead of your own. Cornelia Raid will help here a lot, allowing you to keep tempo with their aggressive pushes while also shoring up your energy line. Depending on how aggressive your opponent plays, it may be beneficial to place cards played by Cornelia’s ability on your front line so that you can block an extra attack and let them be pushed back to your energy line.

The biggest risk to this, however, is if your opponent realizes that sometimes it will be better to just not attack you. This is where Suzaku (1-036) comes in handy with the matchup. Since he has Step, even if your opponent decides not to attack you so that you can’t refill your energy line for free, you can do it yourself when the turn passes. If you decide to run Jeremiah (1-052) as well, you will have even more options for flexible blocking. Lastly, when you do have to send cards from your Energy Line to Removal, one of your best options is Nunnally (2-052), as you will be moving cards between your lines too often to make her energy generation consistent in this matchup.

While the first Red Kenshin I played against was a devastating loss, with a three-turn brick against a friend from the local scene, the other two matches were close wins. The most important thing to remember is while Kenshin will hit you hard in the early game, your late game offense can be overwhelming to many decks, and Kenshin is not an exception here. You will likely only need one good turn to completely swing the game in your favor, so keep calm and play patiently.

Round 7 (Win) : Purple Geass (Black Knights)

This was a very fun match, but I was able to control the board for much of the match. While my opponent did a fantastic job navigating around my board with BP reducing effects to get extra damage in and remove some threats, the draw power alone for this deck was a big advantage. In addition, the one-energy Euphemia caused problems for my opponent in this matchup as well. While there are plenty of effects that can reduce Euphy’s BP by 1000 for a quick kill, it still makes it difficult to use the special efficiently since Geass Purple requires two AP to play initially. Even though you get one AP back upon use, this sequencing requirement can make it hard to get rid of Euphemia, Special, and attack in the same turn. Slowing them down gives you plenty of time to build your energy and search for Air Cavalry to close out games.

The wrap up

First, I wanted to give a huge thank you to the event host, CoreTCG, for the amazing event they put on.  Everything ran smoothly, quickly, and was a fantastic experience all the way around.  They managed to have rounds finished, results finalized, and prizing handed out all by 3:00pm making for a snappy five-hour event.

Second, thank you to everyone in my local scene who helped me deck test in preparation for the event.  I was very uncertain of what decks I wanted to bring, let alone the specific cards and ratios I wanted, so thank you for putting up with my constant requests to meet up for more games.  In particular, thank you to Joseph for the many hours we put in crafting and testing lists for this tournament.  I would not have been prepared enough for the Kenshin matchups if I didn’t get all those extra games in with you.

Overall, the Union Arena regional event was fantastic, and I highly encourage all players to go to any that come through your area.  I’m personally hoping to get another shot at a top 16 placement for a chance at the national championship, and after my experience in Los Angeles, I am even more excited for the future of this rapidly expanding card game.